Unit 1: Selection Vocabulary 2

When the gods had taken their seats in the marble council chamber their king, sitting high above them, leaning on his ivory sceptre, shook his formidable mane three times and then a fourth, disturbing the earth, sea and stars.

Then he opened his lips in indignation and spoke.

All the gods murmured aloud and, zealously and eagerly, demanded punishment of the man who committed such actions.

When the noise had subsided, quieted by his royal authority, Jupiter again broke the silence with these words...

Not satisfied with this he took a hostage sent by the Molossi, opened his throat with a knife, and made some of the still warm limbs tender in seething water, roasting others in the fire.

Just picture it: lines of girls in white-fringed blue satin vests and short skirts, all of them wearing uniform wigs, white cowboy boots, small white cowboy hats, and bright red lipstick, strutting into high school football stadiums filled with crowds afraid to leave their seats during halftime lest they miss the high kicks and perfectly choreographed routines.

This was my way out, my new, pretty, impeccably ordered refuge.

The perfection, precision, and beauty of it would not only offset the growing turmoil at home, but also deliver the holy grail of belonging.

And on top of all that, her name was Kris. Yes, she even had one of those coveted girl-boy names that we all wanted.

I thought if I stared hard enough and the universe knew how much was on the line, the number might magically appear. I was ripped out of my negotiation with the universe by Kris’s screaming.

We tore through the austere rooms, overturning dresser drawers, pawing through the neat piles of the Stage 3 girls’ starched underwear, smashing light bulbs with our bare fists.

They had been ostracized by the local farmers for eating their silled fruit pies and terrorizing the heifers. They had ostracized the local wolves by having sometimes-thumbs, and regrets, and human children.

They conferred in the shadow of the juniper tree, whispering and pointing.

Being around other humans had awakened a slavish-dog affection in us. An abasing, belly-to-the-ground desire to please.

She was still loping around on all fours (which the nuns had taught us to see looked unnatural and ridiculous—we could barely believe it now, the shame of it, that we used to locomote like that!), her fists blue-white from the strain.